I am finishing up the build for a magic mirror. The magic mirror is a mirror with a monitor behind it that displays info on the mirror. Similar to this

My question is how to hang it. Here’s a picture of my build:

The dimensions of the box are 24” tall x 18” long. (the white stuff on the mirror is papertowel I taped on to protect the mirror as I apply the finish)

I was thinking i would do a french cleat and hung one in the box, but now that i’m thinking about it, if the studs are 16” on center (I need to doublecheck) that means i would only go into one stud and the box is fairly heavy. There is a 24” monitor in the box so I’m worried if i use a drywall anchor as the second screw it will be too heavy.

Any ideas? Is one screw into the stud and one into the drywall enough? Is there another way to do it?

First off, “tall” and “long” seem to be the same thing in my vocabularly. But assuming your “long” means “wide”, I guess I agree that most likely you will only catch one stud. You said that you already built in half of the French cleat, I think a wider matching cleat made of a straight piece of hardwood attached to the wall will be enough if you can get close to center of that board. Wide enough to accept 2 screws into the hardwood and your stud. Recently hung a much larger/heavier piece (that I didn’t build and didn’t have the French cleat in mind so I had to add that) in our local library and it’s doing fine. Use construction screws because the center of the wall cleat will bear the bulk of the load.

I think if you can catch one stud with your cleat, and use several drywall anchors, like the ones Art pointed out, it will be fine.

The closer the single stud is to the middle, the more it will balance on that point, and put less load on any drywall anchors on either side. But even if the stud is at one side, I think two or three anchors, several inches apart, near the other end would work.

I think if you can catch one stud with your cleat, and use several drywall anchors, like the ones Art pointed out, it will be fine.

The closer the single stud is to the middle, the more it will balance on that point, and put less load on any drywall anchors on either side. But even if the stud is at one side, I think two or three anchors, several inches apart, near the other end would work.

- clin

I don’t think he will need drywall anchors if the wall cleat securely screwed into studs will allow him to get relatively close to centering the box. Will add that the wall cleat doesn’t have to be 18” long either (12” or even less should be enough, will allow for adjusting side to side and will make it much easier to get the thing on the wall). Don’t cheat on the screws though. Assuming 3/4” cleat depth and 1/2” drywall I would use 2 1/2” screws minimum, 3” better yet, placed 1” from the bottom of the cleat and 2” from the top which should get him close to 1” from the non-beveled part. Btw, I am a big fan of French cleats.

When I had to mount my TV, I could only hit one stud as well. I looked around and found that most professional TV installers will use these toggles to hang TV brackets.

Since you’re essentially mounting a TV, you may want to look into a TV bracket. If you happen to have a Menard’s near by, I’ve found them to be the cheapest there, while not sacrificing strength. I’ve got 3 TV’s (up to 40”) mounted on their brackets and no problems yet.